If not for the loss of academic credits when students transfer from community colleges to four-year colleges and universities, 54 percent of them would graduate, compared to the 46 percent who do now, the research, conducted at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, found. “Loss of credits is a tax on transfer students,” CUNY researcher David Monaghan said. “Policymakers should be pushing both community colleges and four-year institutions to address it.” Monaghan and his coauthor, Paul Attewell, found that the credit barrier was the reason community-college students who transfer to four-year universities graduate at lower rates than classmates who began in them—not a lack of academic preparation or financial aid.